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When Salute named the American Heart Association (AHA) as its global charity partner, the HeartBeat campaign was built around a deeply personal story

Years before his daughter Dani needed rare open-heart surgery, Salute CEO Erich Sanchack had led a Heart Walk fundraiser. By an extraordinary coincidence, research funded through that very event would later help save Dani’s life. 

For Emma Letchford, a member of Salute’s EMEA team, the connection to heart health is personal too. 

So, on July 24, she decided to do something a little out of the ordinary. 

Strapped to the outside of a biplane travelling at 150 miles per hour, Emma completed an aerobatic wing walk involving a full 360-degree loop and barrel roll — raising $5,500 and counting for the 2026 HeartBeat campaign. 

“As it turns out, not many people want to stand on top of a moving plane,” Emma laughs. 

That, of course, was rather the point. 

We caught up with Emma afterwards to find out what persuaded her to take HeartBeat to new heights – and what she discovered when she got there. 

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What made you choose a wing walk? 

Wing walking was already on Emma’s bucket list. She had completed her first flight in 2024, but that experience was static, impressive, certainly, but without the aerobatics. This time, she wanted to go further. The HeartBeat campaign gave her the reason. “The American Heart Association is a global fundraiser, making a huge difference for heart awareness and medicine across the world,” Emma says. “This was a great opportunity to build that awareness and, at the same time, fulfil a lifetime goal.” 

Watching from the ground that day were Erich and Dani Sanchack, who had travelled from Texas, bringing the story behind Salute’s support for the AHA full circle. 

Why does heart health mean so much to you personally? 

Heart problems have been part of Emma’s family story for much of her life. Her grandfather died from a heart attack at 72. Her father underwent a triple bypass at the same age, and two of her uncles have experienced heart issues. 

It has given Emma a particular perspective on fundraising for medical research. She thinks of it almost like paying into a pension. “You invest now without necessarily knowing who will benefit later. It could be a stranger. It could be your daughter. One day, it could even be you.” 

“The more investigative work we can do, the more treatments and analysis there are to help people … that matters,” she says. 

Emma had previously raised money for heart health charities in the UK, so supporting HeartBeat felt like a natural continuation of something she already believed in. 

What was going through your mind before take-off? 

Emma’s answer is refreshingly uncomplicated. 

“Just get on with it!” 

Perhaps surprisingly, the biggest concern wasn’t standing on top of an aircraft. It was something far more mundane – the British weather! Airfields are busy and aircraft engines need time to reach the correct temperature, leaving Emma waiting before take-off with her eyes firmly on the skies. Rain or high winds could have cancelled the flight completely. 

“That was the one thing I couldn’t control,” she says. 

When the weather finally held, nerves gave way to relief — and then excitement. 

“I told myself, I am actually doing this.” 

What does it feel like to be strapped to a wing at 150mph? 

“Exhilarating.” 

At 150 miles per hour, even something as simple as raising your arms takes real effort against the force of the wind. Emma had expected that. 

What she hadn’t expected was what happened when the aircraft turned upside down. 

“Everything seemed to go quiet. Time slowed.” 

 Watching the video afterwards, Emma could see that the inversion lasted only seconds. Up there, suspended above the ground, it had felt far longer. 

“I was momentarily suspended in time and space. It was very strange. Magical, almost.” 

Amid all the speed, noise and adrenaline, the most powerful moment of the experience was one of complete stillness …. then she did it again! 

As for what she may have shouted during that first rotation? Emma is very glad there was no audio. 

How did people respond to what you were taking on? 

According to Emma, her colleagues were fairly unanimous – they thought she was slightly mad. In fact, this was not just her colleagues, it was everyone that got behind her. And they all got behind her! 

Messages, comments and donations started arriving, not only from the people Emma expected. There were colleagues she knew well, people she had known 20 years ago and lost touch with, people she had never met, and people with no obvious connection to Salute at all. 

Her LinkedIn profile, she says with some amusement, has probably never experienced traffic like it and may never again. 

What mattered, though, was where that attention led. People chose to contribute. 

Emma has now raised $5,500 and counting, one of the largest amounts she has ever generated through an individual fundraising challenge. 

“It feels like a sum worth having for the charity,” she says. 

The fact that so many donations came from beyond her immediate community made that total mean even more. 

What would you say to someone considering their own HeartBeat challenge? 

Emma is the first to acknowledge that standing on top of an aeroplane isn’t for everyone. In fact, even experienced skydivers told her they wouldn’t do it. 

But that is precisely why she doesn’t think anyone should measure their challenge against hers. 

 “Being brave for someone else might be running a 10K. It might be something that doesn’t look extreme from the outside but is a big deal for that person.” 

She thinks about people taking part in Heart Walk events who complete a 1km route after major heart surgery. Their challenge may look very different from hers. It can demand every bit as much courage. 

Her advice is simple: 

“Find your own limit, push it a little, and don’t measure your challenge against someone else’s. A little discomfort is good for all of us. You just don’t necessarily have to be quite as extreme about it as I was.” 

Three weeks on, what has stayed with you? 

Emma can still take herself back to that moment of inversion. The quiet. The stillness. The strange sensation of time slowing as she hung upside down in the sky. 

It still makes her catch her breath – in the best possible way. But something else has stayed with her even more strongly. 

The people. Colleagues, old friends and complete strangers who came across her story and decided to send a message, leave a comment, make a donation or simply cheer her on. 

The experience created connections Emma hadn’t expected and revealed a level of generosity she hadn’t anticipated. 

“The generosity of the human spirit is probably what it comes down to.” 

For a challenge involving 150mph, a barrel roll and a 360-degree loop, it is perhaps fitting that Emma’s lasting memory isn’t the speed, the height or even the $5,500 raised. It is the feeling of people getting behind someone who was prepared to be brave for a cause she believed in. 

And for a campaign built around heart, perhaps that’s the most fitting outcome of all. 

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